Local

Judges Shut Down Lyft, Uber In Pittsburgh

Related Tags:

PITTSBURGH (CBS/AP) — Two administrative law judges have agreed with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission to force two ride-share companies to stop operating in Pittsburgh; could Philadelphia be next?

The judges issued their rulings Tuesday, five days after PUC attorneys argued that Lyft and Uber are violating state rules that govern paid transportation services.

Uber, Lyft and other ride-share companies use smartphone apps to dispatch drivers who use their own personal vehicles.

Although the judge’s agreed the technology used to dispatch the vehicles was innovative, they said both companies were still illegally offering public transportation in private vehicles.

The companies plan to contest the emergency orders against them. The PUC has been threatening both companies with fines if they keep operating without first being regulated like taxi services.

Both companies have permit applications pending with the PUC.

In Philadelphia, Sidecar, another ride-share, was booted from the city back in 2013. And in June 2014, the PPA said it was working with a mobile app company to enable a new smartphone app that would allow Philadelphians to pay for cabs with their smartphones.

“That is basically what the Ubers, and the Sidecars and the Lyfts do,” Jim Ney, Director of the PPA’s Taxicab and Limousine Division, told KYW Newsradio.